


rosemary & firewood

by captainegg



Category: Red White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Amortentia, Fuck JKR, Henry is a Hufflepuff, Hints of Pejora, M/M, Not Beta Read, Potions, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash, alex is a gryffindor, not that it matters all too much in this fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 16:54:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29762703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainegg/pseuds/captainegg
Summary: When they brew Amortentia for the first time, Alex discovers something new about himself.
Relationships: Alex Claremont-Diaz/Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor
Comments: 14
Kudos: 63





	rosemary & firewood

**Author's Note:**

> I'm a sucker for Amortentia fics so I decided to write my own 💖

“We are brewing Amortentia today,” Professor Luna announces as he strides into the Potions classroom, a whirlwind of a black robe and hair wax. In the front of the room sits a big black cauldron, pink steam rising from the surface, drowning the entire room in the thick smell of black tea, sugar, rosemary and old parchment.

Alex scrunches his nose, covering the lower half of his face with the sleeve of his robe. “Fucking hell, Fox. You stink,” he says, his voice muffled by the thick fabric.

Henry Fox—Hufflepuff, Prefect, pureblood prodigy and since third grade, Alex’s some-what rival and enemy after a little mishap in Herbology class. The two of them have been at odds ever since and Alex doesn’t plan on changing their status quo any time soon.

“I do not smell, you prick,” Henry snaps at him, slamming his parchment rolls and potions book on his table a little harder than probably necessary and slips onto his seat beside Pez. 

Alex takes his seat beside Liam, scavaging his leather bag for a feather, ink and an unused piece of parchment. He places them all neatly on his desk in front of him, giving the ink jug a good shake which doesn’t do much other than cover his entire right hand in pitch-black ink. Alex wipes it clean as good as he can on the sleeve of his robe.

“Amortentia,” Professor Luna repeats and taps a piece of chalk against the blackboard, “is the most powerful love potion in the entire world. You can easily distinguish it from other potions by its mother-of-pearl sheen and how the steam rises in spirals.”

He puts down the chalk and grabs a heart-shaped bottle from the shelve tucked against the wall behind his desk. With a trowel, he fills some of the potion into the bottle and tightly closes it with a cork. Professor Luna gives it a good shake, the silver flakes in the potion swirling around, shimmering in the dim light of the dungeon classroom.

Alex has to admit that it’s one of the prettier potions on their curriculum. And he should know because Alex has spent hours upon hours in the library, reading every possible book about every possible potion in preparation for class. He faintly recalls reading something about what the smell of Amortentia means but it somehow has slipped his mind.

The air inside the classroom seems to grow thicker with every second that passes, waves of black tea and rosemary hitting Alex like the tides, desperately lapping at cliffs and sandy beaches.

Professor Luna places the bottle on his desk and then returns his attention to the class. “You might have noticed that Amortentia has a certain smell. Mister Claremont-Diaz, what would you say? How does this potion smell?”

Alex, a little startled, stumbles over his words for a second before he regains his composure.”It’s, uh, black tea and sugar? Also rosemary and old parchment, I think. The scent is a little overwhelming I have to admit.”

Professor Luna leans against his desk and hums, arms crossed in front of his chest. “Interesting. What about you, Mister Okonjo?”

Pez seems to be a lot more prepared than Alex. He sits up straight in his seat, looking like a peacock with his glittery green eyeliner and bright purple eyelids. “I’m not sure because it smells like a lot of different things though some of them are more dominant than others. I mainly smell strawberries, patchouli and some type of flower. But then there are also hints of bubblegum, amber and the smell of lipstick?”

Luna pushes himself off of his desk and strides back over to the blackboard, scribbling down Alex’s and Pez’s answers in his neat handwriting. “Very good. What about you, Mister Fox?”

Henry flinches in his seat. Alex turns his head and watches him closely, surprised to see a faint blush creeping up his pale freckled cheeks to his ears. He raises an eyebrow, wondering what the fuck his business is.

“I don’t know how to describe it,” he says, his accent curling around every vowel in ways that make Alex’s stomach twist and turn annoyingly. “But it smells a bit like the ocean, very salty and fresh? And then I smell firewood and I think broomstick polish? I’m sorry, sir.” He quickly lowers his head.

Luna writes Henry’s answer down and smiles at him. “No need to apologize, Mister Fox. Amortentia is different from any other potion because of its smell. Yes, it has hints of parchment and amber and firewood but it also smells like cigarette smoke and whiskey and ink. Do you notice how no answer so far is the same?”

He puts the chalk down again and wipes the white dust off of his hands on his robe, leaving behind white marks on the otherwise perfectly black fabric. “Amortentia smells different to each person because it smells like what attracts them most.”

The entire class goes silent for a moment and suddenly, it makes click in Alex’s head. He remembers reading about this, how Amortentia smells like what a person thinks attractive because that would lure them to the potion. Or something like that. His memory is a bit hazy because in his chest, something suddenly slips into place.

He suddenly recalls a million mornings in the Great Hall with Henry seated at the Hufflepuff table, stirring milk into his black tea and adding half a tablespoon of sugar into it every single morning. No bit more, no bit less. There has been no morning without black tea and no morning without Alex making fun of Henry for it.

He remembers brushing past Henry on his way from Transfiguration class up to the Gryffindor tower last year when the Hufflepuff just came back from the library, smelling of ink and parchment, the black tea from breakfast still clinging to his perfect lips.

Or when during Christmas break, he ran into Henry sitting in the library or in the Great Hall, writing letters to his family and adding a strand of rosemary into each envelope before carefully sealing them with droplets of red wax.

The room suddenly feels too small and Alex scrambles to stuff all his things back into his leather bag because he needs to get out of here as quickly as possible. He doesn’t even care that the other students are staring at him, that Professor Luna is calling out for him because it is simply impossible.

It can’t be.

It simply can’t.

By Merlin.

No.

Please.

No. No. No.

Alex Claremont-Diaz is not in love with Henry Fox but even when he hurries down the corridor and up to the Gryffindor tower, the smell of black tea and rosemary still clings to him and he can’t shake the words that hold onto his thoughts for dear life.

_Am I in love with Henry Fox?_

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Comments and kudos are as always very much appreciated 💖
> 
> Come and join the [RWRB discord server](https://discord.gg/DVqeKTtxqK) (open to anyone)!


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